


Back So Soon

by morioriohno



Category: One Piece
Genre: Happy Ending, Reunions, hurts me soul i genuinely had difficulty finishing this because I thought too much about the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morioriohno/pseuds/morioriohno
Summary: Brook finally gets his chance to keep his promise.
Relationships: Brook & Laboon (One Piece), Brook & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates
Comments: 19
Kudos: 158
Collections: OP Secret Santa 2019





	Back So Soon

**Author's Note:**

> This is my secret santa gift for @revolutionaryoven on tumblr! Hope you enjoy!

“A-are you sure this is the best time for this?”

“Relax.” Nami rolls her eyes—at least, Brook can assume she does, given how ridiculous he’s being. The comb she’s running through his hair pulls just a little bit tighter, working out one of his ridiculous knots. “You’ve been looking forward to this for—“

“Fifty years,” Brook reminds her. 

“Right, and you’re not keeping him waiting any longer, right?” She puts the comb down and places a hand on his shoulder with a sigh. “All done here, we’ll be waiting outside for you. Take your time, but...well, you’ve gotta come out eventually, okay?”

Brook nods, unable to speak. After a moment, Nami’s footsteps fade, and Brook is, once again, alone. The exhaustion is palpable, in the air and in his bones. It’s been three days since the Sunny left Laughtale, and everyone is reeling from the events that transpired, but the crew had simultaneously agreed that their journey was not yet complete. Brook made a vow, to go round the entire Grand Line, and see the friend on the other side.

Laboon is waiting for him.

He stares in the mirror silently, empty sockets glazed over with nerves. He’s donned his favorite suit, the deep purple affair from back on Thriller Bark that a tailor had generously helped him fix, in hopes of being recognizable. Even through the gradual loss of his memory over the past half a century, Brook took care to remember what he looked like back then. He made sure to get as close as possible to the Brook of the Rumbar Pirates, and now only one thing is missing—well. A lot of things are missing now. Like eyes, or skin, or a nose or a smile or anything real besides bones. But one thing is missing that he can fix.

His bony fingers trembling, Brook reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a dusty pair of glasses. The glass has also been replaced, much like the rest of his ensemble, but the three years since he got them fixed haven’t been fair to them. He runs the lenses through his scarf a couple times until the glass shines once again. Taking a tense breath, he carefully places them on what’s left of his nose and tucks the ends into his hair. A string of blue beads hangs on the side of his face, having been carefully restrung years ago. A feeling simultaneously so familiar and so foreign takes over his body, he’s afraid to take a look, but he has to.

He pulls his hands away and feels his nonexistent heart thud against the bottom of his ribcage. Brook is unrecognizable, even to himself. He can’t fully remember what he used to look like, flesh and all—and if _he_ can’t recognize himself, how can Laboon?

His body shudders at the thought. What if it’s all for nothing? What if...what if Laboon wasn’t as devoted as Brook has been, all these years? What if, what if, what if.

“Hey, Brook.”

Brook looks over his shoulder and sees Zoro casually poke his head through the doorway. Even the stoic swordsman has trouble hiding the exhaustion on his face, but there’s a certain sparkle in his expression when he says, “The Pirate King wants you topside.”

“Oh.” Luffy’s new title throws Brook for a momentary loop, as it’s undoubtedly going to for a while. Luffy is the Pirate King now. They really did it. They found the One Piece. Wealth, fame, power, it’s all theirs. The journey is really over...but it’s not the right time to think about that. This must be Luffy telling Brook that it’s time to suck it up and get on deck. They’re nearing Reverse Mountain now, there’s no more stalling. The goal that Brook has been striving towards is finally here.

“Of course,” Brook mutters, stepping away from the mirror and picking up his cane. “I...well, I suppose I’m ready as I can be, yohoho...” 

Stepping out onto the deck is a surreal experience to him. The air has that same odd quality to it—foreign yet familiar. Decades of breathing in the heavy dense air of the Florian Triangle will make the sweet air of the Blues seem so remarkable in comparison. Around him are the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates, beaten and bloody and weary but alive. Alive and well.

Tears form in Brook’s eye sockets and he violently wipes them away with a smile. He’s so blessed to have such a wonderful crew—no, a wonderful _family._ There is no group of people he would rather share this moment with.

Franky comes up behind him with a slap on the back that barely registers. “So, I finally get to meet this whale friend of yours! I can’t wait to see ‘im. Tell me, how big is he at this point?”

That’s...actually an interesting point. Sure, Brook will know it’s Laboon because of him being a whale and all, but he doesn’t actually know how much he’s grown. “Well, I imagine he’s gotten a little larger at this point, but I couldn’t say for certain.”

“No, he’s pretty big,” Zoro supplies. “He could swallow the Sunny all in one go.”

That’s big.

“WOW!” That gets Franky to laugh. “He can _try!_ ”

Brook slinks away from the conversation, not quite feeling up to it at the moment, and approaches his captain. Luffy is covered in bandages and bruises, but he almost looks radiant like this. Like the center of the universe.

Luffy looks up from his seat upon the deck, his smile wide and pure. “You ready?”

“Aha...” Brook laughs nervously, his fingers tightly gripping the end of his cane. There’s no right answer to that question. “Would it really matter if I wasn’t?”

“No,” Luffy agrees.

The ship is silent for a precious moment, the only noises made by the carefree splashing of the waves against the hull. Reverse Mountain is visible in the distance, and Brook supposes he’s been ignoring it this whole time. But at this point, it’s a hulking wall that takes up a good part of the horizon.

“There will be Marines around here,” Jinbei warns, breaking the silence. “No doubt they’d be waiting for us after the week we’ve had.”

“We’ll take them,” Luffy says firmly, eyes locked on Brook. “And we’re getting over that mountain.”

“Yeah, we’ll take them all on!” Usopp chimes in, and the rest of the crew follows suit.

The calm of the sea is shattered by a violent splash to the side of the ship. Sunny, already battered from their last battle, lists hard to the left, scattering the crew across the ship. As Brook and the others struggle to regain their footing, another cannonball slams into the hull with an explosion.

As the ship rocks, Nami shrieks, “Look’s like we’ve got company!”

“Navy ship sighted off the starboard side!” Franky confirms, muffled through the sounds of chaos as Sanji punts an incoming cannonball back where it came from.

“BATTLE STATIONS!” Luffy hollers. “No matter what, the Sunny is going over Reverse Mountain, and we’re going to see Laboon!”

All the Straw Hats let out a raucous cheer, and Brook can’t help but follow along.

What follows is chaos. Brook no longer has any time to think about being anxious, because soldiers are boarding the Sunny left and right and Brook can do nothing but defend the ship. He dashes across the ship, back and forth, over the waves onto enemy vessels and back before the Marines can even catch sight of him. It’s nothing near the difficulty of the fight they’ve just come from, but everyone’s at their limits right now and the Navy isn’t pulling their punches. Brook dodges every blow as if it were fatal, having already changed into his reunion regalia. What if there’s a single tear in the fabric and Laboon can’t piece it together in his mind?

Brook hears someone yell his name and turns back towards the ship—it’s been caught in the currents of Reverse Mountain, and quickly picking up speed. He disarms a nearby soldier and dashes back on board, struggling to catch his breath. “Is everyone alright?”

The crew mutters their confirmations. Everyone is noticeably more beat-up than before, bruises and blood everywhere (save for Brook), and Chopper is scrambling from crewmate to crewmate to do his best to patch them up. “Don’t worry,” he says, though he’s still scrambling around and looking _very_ worried. “We made it out just fi—FRANKY, hold still!”

“We’re in the clear for the moment.” Jinbei sighs from his place at the helm. “With the current at its current rate, we’ve got a couple minutes before the top.”

“That was a lot of them!” Usopp gasps. “More than I expected, for sure...”

“Well, we _are_ the crew that sailed around the world,” Robin replies. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable—they’re bound to hunt us down.”

“She’s right. They’re definitely following us,” Zoro says curtly, with a flick of his sword to clear it of blood. “We’re still in for a fight.”

“Hmph,” Sanji scoffs. “What a surprise. We travel all the way around the world and still don’t get a damn pass.”

“Yeah, you _would_ want to wimp out.”

Sanji’s eyes narrow, but he apparently bites back the brewing insult. “...I’m just saying. We’re all tired. Marines could cut us some slack.”

“Sanji’s right,” Luffy whines. “I wanna nap! And food! Lots of it! We didn’t even get a banquet to celebrate getting to Laughtale...”

“There’s no time for that right now. Not until we’re done here and actually safe for a few hours, days.”

“Wait, wait, so now we have to fight them and _keep_ them off of us long enough to escape?” Nami frowns. “Then what do we do if they catch up to us?”

“Aren’t you, like, a weather wizard or something now?” Franky grumbles. “How are you threatened at all?”

“...Well, _yeah_ , but still! I’m a cute girl in her prime, I’m not going to prison!”

“We won’t run,” Luffy says suddenly, and the crew turns to him. His arms are crossed and his expression is stubborn and determined. “Even if we get captured, we won’t run.”

The Straw Hats fall silent at that. Brook can’t help but feel the tiniest bit guilty that they’re doing this for him, but he gets the distinct impression that now is not the time to bring that up.

“What if we hold them at the base of the mountain?” Jinbei says suddenly. “With my ability to change currents, I can slow their descent, and the rest of you can bottleneck them at the base of the mountain.”

“They’ll crash into each other and do most of the work themselves,” Robin completes. “An excellent strategy.”

Franky grins. “And then we can Coup de Burst out of there the second we’re done! WOW, you two are somethin’!”

“You have enough in you for another round, Captain?”

Luffy exhales loudly, stretching his already-stretchy fingers. “Yep! Let’s get ready, guys! Brook, as soon as we hit the bottom, you go ahead and meet up with Laboon.”

Brook has honestly been dissociating for most of this conversation, so at the mention of his name, he snaps back to reality. “Pardon?”

“What’s a pardon?”

“No, no, what did you say? I wasn’t listening.”

“Uh—“

Zoro sighs and interrupts before Luffy can attempt to figure out where he lost his place in the conversation. “ _We’ll_ hold them off, _you_ talk to your whale.”

“But I...”

Brook’s voice falters as the Sunny slows to a near stop.

The Thousand Sunny reaches the peak of Reverse Mountain in what feels like slow-motion—Brook looks around at the place where all the seas meet and feels something akin to awe as he realizes what this means. Before, when they said the adventure had reached the end at Laughtale, that wasn’t really true. Reverse Mountain marks the beginning and the end. From this point, you can truly view the world.

“I can see Loguetown!” Usopp exclaims, pointing in the direction of what Brook can only assume is the East Blue.

It’s a magical moment. The sea sparkles, as if welcoming them all back, and every Straw Hat’s expression is full of joy and wonder and awe and nostalgia and a sense of wanderlust finally, _finally_ fulfilled.

And Luffy?

Luffy’s grin could split the sun.

“HERE WE GO!”

Everyone screams and grabs hold of something as the Sunny rockets over the peak at an exhilarating pace, and Brook can’t help but also let out a delighted laugh that melds perfectly into his screech of panic. Maybe it’s his old bones, but the ride feels faster than he remembers.

“Ships following!” Zoro shouts, and some of the merriment dies down. “You all know the plan, protect the Sunny!”

“‘Course we know the plan, damn marimo! Just try not to get yourself lost, I know that’s a challenge!”

“Brook!” Robin calls. Brook snaps around to the sight of her hands passing his violin case across the ship.

Brook wraps his free hand around the handle with a smile, ignoring the churning feeling in what used to be his stomach. “Yohoho, thank you!

As they near the bottom of the mountain, Brook notices that something seems to be blocking the base of the current. “Er, Jinbei? Shouldn’t we be going around that thing?”

“That’s Laboon!” Nami shouts back.

...What??

Oh.

_Oh._

He’s _huge_.

Brook’s heart swells with what he assumes is paternal pride as he realizes that Zoro wasn’t exaggerating, and Laboon could, in fact, swallow the Sunny with no trouble at all. “My goodness! Can you believe it, he’s grown so big!”

“It has been fifty years,” Robin says with a small smile.

“LABOON!” Luffy shrieks, as loud as he possibly can. “WE MADE IT!”

An echoing, haunting _bwuoh_ sound rings down from Laboon’s gaping jaw, with teeth as big as the Sunny gaping open in surprise. It sounds just like Laboon’s little chirps from so long ago, only a million times louder and longer, and Brook genuinely can’t think of anything to say so he just stares.

The ship slows at the base of the mountain with a huge splash, and the rest of the crew takes off to make preparations for battle, but Brook just stares in awe up at the hulking form of his dearest friend. The scars on the top of him, what must be his head, make him kind of sad, but that’s completely undone by the terribly drawn Jolly Roger covering them. The paint has stayed for years, it looks like, but it’s still recognizable as Luffy’s hideous lack of artistic talent.

As they pull up to the little lighthouse at the base of the mountain, Brook is filled with nostalgia at the friendly face waiting for him. “Crocus!” he hollers down from the ship. “Old friend!”

The man looks up from his chair, confused for a moment, but his face brightens when he sees the Straw Hat flag. “Well I’ll be damned. You all did it! Hey, Laboon, take a look at who’s here!”

Laboon makes another excited howl and starts to move closer to the lighthouse.

“ _GO,”_ Nami hisses, giving Brook a little shove towards the railing. Brook flails, catches himself, and then runs across to the water before he can think about what’s about to happen too much.

As Brook touches down on the island, Crocus looks him over, eyes narrowed. “You...look familiar, and I know it’s not just from the paper. Have we met?”

Brook laughs quietly. “Yes. Yes, my friend, we have.” He bows deeply at the waist, suppressing his joyful tears. “Forgive me for making you wait this long, Crocus, but I _must_ thank you for taking such wonderful care of Laboon in my stead. He’s grown so big and beautiful!”

“How do you...” Crocus’s face falters, then alights with recognition. “I’ll be damned. Brook?!”

“In the flesh! Except, not exactly, since I’m a skeleton now, I don’t have any flesh left to speak of, yohohoho—“

He’s interrupted by Crocus giving him a bone-crushing hug, the man laughing uproariously. “I can’t believe it! All this time, I thought you and your crew had abandoned poor old Laboon, but you’ve been trying to come back all this time!”

“Of course! I could never abandon him,” Brook exclaims. “He’s family!”

“Of course! Hey, Laboon, we’ve got a surprise for you!“

There’s so much joy in his heart, Brook can’t help but feel overwhelmed. Laboon pulls up close to the lighthouse, his eye level with the shore, and Brook’s eye sockets begin pouring over with tears. 

“ _Laboon_ ,” he chokes out, through a smile. “Hello, dear friend! I know I don’t look the same, but I came back, just like I promised! It’s me, Brook! From the Rumbar Pirates, except I’m a Straw Hat now! Remember this afro? Remember me?”

No reply. Just that one, massive, inquisitive eye trained on him.

”I...I’m so sorry,” Brook whispers, and he feels all of his bottled-up emotions just pour out. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long, Laboon! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! We all tried our best, we missed you dearly, but we weren’t able to make it back to you when we promised we would, and Yorki, he couldn’t make it with the rest of us, but he wanted to, he _wanted_ me to see you again. I promised I would, and I’m here now, but I’m so sorry it took so long!”

Brook watches Laboon for any signs of recognition. There’s quiet for a moment, and Brook, in that moment, fears the worst.

Then Laboon’s impossibly large eye widens. Tears begin to fall, huge salty tears that send waves splashing onto the shore.

“ _ **BWUOOOHHHH!!**_ ”

Laboon lets out a hearty earth-shaking wail, full of anguish, love, torment, loss, happiness and grief—and in that moment, Brook knows that Laboon remembers him.

Laboon brings his attention back to Brook, and Brook feels like he could die right now and be absolutely content, except he’s not dying because he’s here with Laboon and he has so much to catch up on—oh!

“OH!” Brook exclaims. “Oh, dear me, I almost forgot!”

Brook reaches into his skull and pulls out his tone dial, sitting down on the shore with it placed in front of him. His heart feels heavy with responsibility, yet light as a feather at the same time.

_I kept my promise._

“I have something to play for you.”


End file.
